


Deluge

by zarahjoyce



Series: KDrama [13]
Category: Korean Drama, 쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 - 도깨비 | Goblin (TV), 진심이 닿다 | Touch Your Heart (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, What Ifs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 15:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17727992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarahjoyce/pseuds/zarahjoyce
Summary: "Kwon Jung Rok," Miss Sunny said, coming out of the door behind the counter just in time to see him enter. "My, look at you. You're just as handsome as a king."Five of Kwon Jung Rok's encounters with Sunny.





	Deluge

**Author's Note:**

> a mashup of two canons that I thought I needed in this world, so I wrote it.

Being a college freshman was  _hard_ , Kwon Jung Rok thought yet again with a grimace. He had at least three exams coming up - not to mention the number of projects and writing assignments that were all due  _this_ week. It's a wonder he could manage to cram in any time for himself; he'd  _barely_ had a wink of sleep last night!  
  
He pushed the door open and deposited himself inside a now-familiar location. This little chicken shop had become his favorite around campus, not just because the food here was relatively cheap, but also because it was almost always quiet, being away from the busy streets the students frequented. It gave him a place to study outside the bustle of his school - something he was immensely grateful for.  
  
"Welcome," the server said, smiling at and most likely remembering him.   
  
"Hi," he said automatically. "I'd like a--"  
  
"We have a  _customer,_ Woo Jin?" an unfamiliar female voice loudly broke in, making him frown. "That's different."  
  
Glancing at the side, he saw a woman emerge from the door behind the counter. She was slender, older, and quite frankly, one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen - from a purely physical point of view, of course.  
  
Kim Se-Won would surely  _flip_ when he saw her.   
  
" _Finally_. I'm thankful someone at  _least_ has some taste in this godfor--"  
  
Their eyes met, and for the life of him he couldn't explain why her face suddenly lost all its color as she mumbled, "--saken town."  
  
Not knowing what to do - or say - he merely gave her a little bow.    
  
"Y-You," she said, walking around the counter on unsteady legs to stand before him. "Y-You're...?" She blinked repeatedly, and to his everlasting  _horror,_  seemed to be very near tears already. " _Wang Yeo?_  But-- how did you--?"  
  
...Should he get alarmed? This was getting a bit ridiculous. "Miss--"  
  
He saw her hand shoot out as if to touch his face, only he managed to step back and avoid it in time. "I'm sorry  _Ma'am_ ," he said firmly, holding both hands forward and forming a silent wall between them. "I think you have me mistaken for someone else. I've never seen you before."  
  
Jung Rok was very certain he'd remember, if he had.  
  
Just  _who_ was this woman anyway?  
  
Something in his words or in his manner of speaking  _or_ his expression - possibly a combination of all three - must have reached her,  _thank goodness,_  because suddenly she was blinking again. She discreetly wiped at her cheeks and said, "Yes, of course. Silly me. That's--" She cleared her throat. "Won't happen again."  
  
But still she stared at him with an intensity that borderline made him uncomfortable. Just as he was internally debating on whether or not he should go, however, she turned towards the server and said, "Give him anything he wants. It's on the house," before disappearing into the very same door she came out of - as if her actions didn't just confuse  _the hell_  out of him.  
  
Well.  
  
_Well_.  
  
So that was  _that_ , then.  
  
"Who is she?" he asked from the server, who, as it turned out, seemed as bewildered as he was at this turn of events.  
  
"Oh, she's the owner of the shop, Miss Sunny." She bowed a little to him. "We're sorry if it inconvenienced you. She's... she's usually  _not_ like that. At all."  
  
"Is that so?" he said, glancing at the door.  
  
_Miss Sunny,_  he thought.  
  
And wondered again what  _that_ had been all about.

* * *

  
He didn't see her for a few months after that incident.  
  
Curiously enough, every time he came in he almost always expected her to pop out of that door - but she never did.  
  
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. No one had  _ever_ mistaken him for someone else, and a part of him wondered just  _who_ that person who looked like him had been to have such an impact on someone as beautiful as Miss Sunny.  
  
He also wondered what he would say to her the next time they meet. Should he allude to their first encounter and say he wasn't at all bothered by it? That they could just start anew again?  
  
_...well._  
  
Then one day, Jung Rok was busy inhaling the pages of his book - he had another exam in three hours, imagine  _that_ \- when his notebooks were unceremoniously pushed aside to make room for a basket of fries.  
  
Annoyed, he bit out, "I didn't order that."  
  
"I know," a clearly female voice said. "But boys like you need to eat when they're studying."  
  
Stunned, Jung Rok lifted his eyes off his book to see  _Miss Sunny_  smiling at him. "A full stomach will help you a lot, believe me. It'll make it easier for you to remember things." She tapped the side of her head for emphasis.  
  
He glanced at the fries, then at her  _smiling face_ , and said the most intelligent thing he could muster at that very moment: "...um."  
  
"It's on the house," she said, already moving away from him to attend to another customer.  
  
Leaving him gaping at her like a fish out of water.  
  
Like an  _idiot._  
  
_Goddamnit, Kwon Jung Rok._  
  
He really blew  _that_ opportunity, didn't he?

* * *

  
Steadily and over the years, the number of customers in the chicken shop grew to quite a staggering degree.  
  
Jung Rok couldn't help but notice, however, that majority of them were  _male_ whose ages put his firmly in the mid-range.   
  
Just like he couldn't help but notice that they hung around quite a lot whenever Miss Sunny herself was minding the shop.  
  
He pushed the door open, grimacing at the number of people inside. Jung Rok saw that she was busy taking orders, so instead of trying to get her attention he just looked for a free spot, hoping against hope that she would eventually make her way to him.  
  
He'd just spotted a table near the windows when he heard Miss Sunny say, "Didn't I make it clear before? I  _said_ I don't date younger men."  
  
Jung Rok inclined his head, trying to get a glimpse of whatever caused her to say that. Next thing he knew, the man she was talking to had grabbed her free hand and said, "Come on, it's just one night." He then sneered at her. "A woman your age should  _really_ be flattered someone like me can still take an interest in you."  
  
Something in his brain snapped as he watched the incident unfold.   
  
_No one_  should speak to Miss Sunny that way!    
  
Miss Sunny, meanwhile, kept her cool as she pulled her hand free and did what any rational woman would:   
  
She grabbed a tall glass of water from the table behind her and threw its content on the man's face. "There," she said. " _That_ should help cool you down."  
  
"You--  _you bitch!_ " Sputtering and wiping at his face, the man surged to his feet and raised a hand as if to strike her - but the blow never came.   
  
The blow never came because Jung Rok himself had hauled him away before bodily pushing him to the floor, his knee mercilessly digging into the back of the offender.   
  
"Ya!" The man said. "What the--  _who the fuck_  are you?"  
  
"No one," Jung Rok snarled, "should speak to any woman that way. Especially to  _Miss Sunny._ "  
  
"That's right," Miss Sunny said. She then threw a pad of napkins at the man's face. "Dry yourself off. You really don't want to look like a mess when the police gets here."  
  
"The-- the police?" the man squeaked.   
  
"What?" Miss Sunny asked. "You think I'm going to let you walk out of my establishment after that stupid stunt you pulled?"  
  
And just because he felt like it, Jung Rok dug his knee further into the offender's back, making him groan.  
  
"Thank goodness there still are some good men in the world," Miss Sunny said aloud. "Coming into the aid of some silly, defenseless woman like me.  _Thank goodness_  I don't have to kill anyone just so they'd leave me alone."  
  
Startled by that statement, Jung Rok glanced at her.  
  
She winked at him in return.

* * *

  
"See, I've always wondered: what's the difference between homicide and murder?"  
  
" _Homicide_ requires only a volitional act by another that results in death, so they may arise from negligent or reckless acts even if there's no intent to harm.  _Murder_ is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another." Jung Rok stared at Miss Sunny, waiting for her to comment on his brilliant intellect - as she had been so fond of doing.  
  
Instead, he found her to look quite dismayed at the information. "So..." She stared down at his basket of fries and said, "so if someone, say, a  _king_ had ordered his servants to execute anyone who dared disobey his command - will that be considered homicide or murder?"  
  
He frowned. What an oddly specific case to mull over. "It may fall under the principle of joint enterprise murder," he said, "since both king and executor acted towards the same goal. One issued the order, the other followed it. They are both accountable for it, in the eyes of the law."   
  
He scratched his chin. Based from her sullen expression, it felt like he was saying all the  _wrong_ things. "I may have to check my notes again, just to be sure--"  
  
"No need," she said, smiling again - but this time, it didn't reach her eyes. "The deed is done, anyway."  
  
Miss Sunny never spoke about it again after that.

* * *

  
He pushed the door open, trying to ignore the niggling thought that this could very well be the last time he came in this shop.  
  
"Kwon Jung Rok," Miss Sunny said, coming out of the door behind the counter just in time to see him enter. "My, look at you. You're just as handsome as a king."   
  
He looked down at himself; he was wearing his best suit and tie. Jung Rok then said, almost bashfully, "I just graduated this morning."   
  
"Oh! This calls for a celebration, then." She came closer and placed a hand on his arm, grinning all the while. " _Congratulations_. I'm sure you'll make a fine attorney someday."  
  
He glanced at her face, feeling ridiculously nervous and embarrassed, all at once.  
  
It was now or never.   
  
"Miss Sunny," he said, his voice lower than usual. "I was wondering... if..."  
  
She raised her brows, waiting for him to speak.  
  
He cleared his throat. "Would you...? Have a... date. With me?"  
  
After a few dreadfully long seconds, Miss Sunny lowered her hand and sighed.  
  
It might be his imagination, but he was pretty certain her expression had just shifted into something close to regretful.  
  
"You're almost making me sorry I don't date younger men," she said softly.  
  
...so that was a silent  _no_ , then.  
  
"Why don't you?" he asked, hating how almost desperate he sounded. "Just this once." 

_Just for me._

She sighed again. "Jung Rok," she began, reaching up to pat his cheek. "You deserve someone who can love you for  _you._ I'm afraid I'm not that person."  
  
He frowned. "That's--"  
  
"If I date you," she cut in, "I can almost guarantee that I'll not be seeing you, but someone else. Someone who broke my heart and never really knew how to mend it. Someone... someone I can't quite forgive yet."  
  
"Wang Yeo," Jung Rok suddenly said.  
  
Miss Sunny blinked. "How did you--?"  
  
"You said his name all those years ago, when you mistook me for him." He smiled grimly. "I remembered it."  
  
She stared up at him pensively. "You know, you looked just like him before," she said. "And now, you still do. It makes me..." She shook her head before looking up at him again.    
  
For some reason, he's hit with the thought that maybe,  _now_ , she's not seeing him at all.  
  
Perhaps Miss Sunny never did.  
  
The thought felt more painful than it had any right to be.  
  
"I'm sorry," Jung Rok said, squaring his shoulders, preparing to deal with the disappointment in his own way. "I shouldn't have asked."   
  
He then turned to leave.   
  
"Jung Rok," she called out.   
  
Despite himself, he paused and looked over his shoulder.  
  
"When you meet the right person, can you-- can you bring her here?" Miss Sunny asked. "I'd love to meet her."   
  
_What a ridiculous notion_ , he thought.

 

* * *

  
**_bonus:_**  
  
"I'm not familiar with this neighborhood," Oh Jin Shim remarked, curiously looking around them. "Where are we going?"  
  
"We're going to have lunch somewhere," Jung Rok simply said. "And don't worry - you won't get recognized there."  
  
He turned around the corner, spotted the chicken shop just ahead of them, and smiled.  
  
"Come on." He placed a hand on Jin Shim's back. "There's someone I want you to meet."


End file.
